Why Mt Everest deserves respect over self-promotion – The Front Page

Just over 70 years after Sir Edmund Hillary first ascended Mt Everest, the world’s highest peak is grappling with new ethical dilemmas.

From crowded summit attempts and ecological strain, to debates about climber preparedness and the treatment of sherpas, Everest’s story today is as complex as ever.

The Himalayan Trust, founded by Sir Ed and his wife Louise in the 1960s, continues to support local communities at the heart of these challenges.

His grandson, Alexander Hillary, now runs the organisation.

He told The Front Page that the act of climbing Everest has changed a lot over the years.

“When my grandfather first climbed it, there were all sorts of things going on, but then there was also this curiosity for achieving the impossible.

“In the 1990s, commercial mountaineering started. So, it’s a really new industry, and I think that’s what people talk about when they talk about climbing Everest. Everything that has happened since 1990 to today.

“There’s been a lot of negative talk around that, and I think it’s important, though, to remember that this has enormous value both to the Sherpa people and also to mountaineering as a whole because it’s this incredibly iconic thing, climbing Everest. It’s the epitome of accomplishment for a lot of people,” he said.

The urge to post the feat of conquering the summit on social media has heightened its commerciality, which in turn has brought controversy and debate around some ‘complicated truths’.

“This was the pinnacle achievement of a mountaineer’s career. They may have started climbing in their 20s, and then in their late 40s, they finally go, ‘I’m gonna go for Everest’.

“They were climbing in a team. They were each responsible for decisions. They cooked for themselves, they made decisions about snow conditions, about weather, about when to turn back, about how to climb the mountain.

“Today, that’s not happening so much. A lot of that responsibility is being put on guides. I think that is a bit of an issue. You’ve got people showing up to the mountain that haven’t put in the work required to turn themselves into a really skilled mountaineer to take on Mt Everest,” he said.

Hillary believes there needs to be a cultural shift when it comes to Everest.

“A shift where we acknowledge that before you climb Everest, you need to be able to climb Mt Ruapehu and be able to do small steps up towards big goals.

“But, I think there are so many people who love that mountain and have so much respect for the mountain.

“It’s of enormous significance. It’s the mother goddess of the world. I think it is a beautiful mountain despite everything that gets said about it.

“I think we need to really connect with that and each person that wants to go and climb Everest and embark on that adventure, I think needs to do it from a place of respect, not for themselves, not for a LinkedIn pose, or some kind of self-promotion,” he said.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

• How tourism affects local communities.
• Unprepared climbers.
• The work of The Himalayan Trust.
• The challenges of commercialisation.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.